The Power of Paint: Shades of Grey Apartment Bathroom Reveal

It's finally time for an apartment renovation reveal! This post is basically the reason I wanted to start blogging guys! I know, I know, you were all expecting more on Jackson's owl bathroom. Well, we've been working on another bathroom at the same time! Overachieving is one word for it. Or glutton for punishment. Either way I'm up to my elbows in bathroom makeovers!



This is a huge post for me, with multiple projects done over the course of many weeks. I could have split it up into several posts but I just didn't have the time or energy while working at two different spaces on multiple projects. Plus this was kind of an unexpected renovation and I didn't do all the work so I just took pictures of our progress.

Since I started blogging last year all of the apartments have been occupied (except one that is getting a major overhaul, more on that another time) so we couldn't do any kind of updating or reno. Shortly after my lower unit grey apartment tour, the tenants living there put in their notice. While the apartment looked really nice, Cory felt a little sprucing up was necessary.

First we painted a bedroom a greenish grey that had been boring beige. We let Jackson "help" with the painting. I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of our budding artist at work.

Cory also patched and painted any damage. We painted, painted and painted some more. We focused most of our mini makeover energy on the bathroom and small back entryway/hallway between the bathroom, a bedroom and the kitchen.

Here's a couple before shots of the bathroom and what I could dig up of the hallway (Cory started working on it while I was at work so I didn't get a before picture).

We worked on the two areas simultaneously. Cory decided he wanted to try something new with the back entryway. His sister Erica had put up board and batten (like wainscoting) in her bathroom (see her tutorial here) and it inspired him to try it in this small area to make it look more interesting and more to the period of the house. We had a bunch of pine furring strips and other small wood boards in the basement leftover from a huge shelving/storage unit Cory built a while ago so he decided to use those. You can pick furring strips up for super, super cheap (pennies for a 4 foot long board) at any home improvement store. Cory framed the whole hallway out for less than $5 worth of wood.

He simply measured, placed the furring strips equal distance apart (he didn't even have to cut them as they were already the same height), then he glued them to the wall, taped them until dry, then painted the wood and wall white and lastly he used some caulk to give it a finished look. He did cut and fit slightly larger boards that were also in the basement for the top rail piece. Here's a few pictures of the process. Since we painted the board and batten white we had to bite the bullet and paint the woodwork and doors white to match.

Here's the brand new/old looking entryway!

At the same time the hallway was going back in time, the bathroom got a fresh new look, a facelift, to give it a more modern appearance.

I started by painting the sad 80's wood vanity with some of my favorite new $5 Waverly chalk paint in the dark grey elephant color. Here's a before shot of the vanity right before I started painting.

Here's the vanity after painting. I painted the medicine cabinet to match and still had a tiny amount of paint left. I also put a clear coat on to protect the paint from water and normal usage.

We reused all the knobs, towel bars and toilet paper holder. Cory soaked them in paint deglosser overnight and then spray painted them oil rubbed bronze and put touches of worn penny paint on all the fixtures to give them a true oil rubbed look. He completed the process by spraying a clear coat on everything so that the paint won't knick or scratch off. I found a can of light grey oops paint that I had purchased a while ago for $12 to paint the walls to match the new vanity color.

The wall board in the bathroom was not the white color we would have preferred. It was in good shape just off white. 

Instead of pulling it all down Cory decided to try a new product out to see if we could transform the wallboard for little cost and effort. For about $12 Cory purchased Zinsser Bondz. We already had the paint deglosser which Cory used first (so the Bondz would work even better) on the wall board by scrubbing it onto the surface and then he applied a coat, let it dry for a half hour and then painting on the Bondz primer. 

Right after he painted the Bondz primer onto the wallboard he then finished with two coats of white paint and primer in one.

We are super excited with the outcome from the Bondz primer. The wall board looks fresh, clean and best of all white. We can't wait to use Bondz on one of the numerous surfaces it says you can paint on such as vinyl, garage doors, metal, glass etc.

My favorite part about this bathroom makeover is the feet on the claw foot tub. Ever since I bought a can of Rustoleum mirror effect spray paint for my gold glitter mercury glass pumpkin we've been looking to use it on tons of objects we want to be shiny silver. I suggested we paint the white claw feet on the tub to make them look more expensive. This was the easiest paint project in the bathroom. I cleaned the feet, taped them off and Cory sprayed them. Instant wow factor. Makes me wish I had this puppy in my own home...

Here's a picture of the whole completed bathroom.

Not too shabby for less than $50 worth of paint and supplies. It really is amazing what a little paint and elbow grease can do for a room!

Until the next time!

-Sherri

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the products mentioned. All opinions are my own from my own experiences.